Lebanon PM: International community must take responsibility for Middle East peace

Hezbullah would love to stage a coup to take control of the lebanesse government.. The last time they thought about it, they they were "deterred" by Israel. Have they yet finished puting all the pieces back together again?

The US prevents the Arab bloc from isolating and ganging up on Israel. Boo hoo.

Had Hizbollah not flooded southern Lebanon with arms, there would be no need for overflights.

Israel will not put itself in danger to be shelled by the Syrian forces again, like they were in 67. If that's inconvenient for the Left, tough.

And Israel invaded Lebanon (a country that declared war on Israel) in 1982 to stop rockets from being fired at its civilians near the border. How would you call Hezbollah's bombing of the Israeli embassy and Amia (civilian building) in Buenos Aires?

Of course not, and neither is my army here in the UK, armed to the teeth with guns and rockets and non elected by the people. I'd be interested to know why the UK Government allows me to exist? Maybe you know Professor?? BTW any news on the Lockerbie bomber's health or Mr Kuntar the child killer??

"BTW any news on the Lockerbie bomber's health or Mr Kuntar the child killer??" - H You should start reading the daily news or at least watch them on tv instead of making them up. Have some coffee to make sure you are awake, and be attentive. Had you done this in the past you would have known that the Lockerbie bomber was Lybian, and Mr Kuntar was not on a Hizballah mission, although Hizballah got him released with all Lebanese prisoners Israel held. And if you are still awake, why don't you check your Oxford dictionary for the definition of "terrorist". You may discover that being armed and not elected by the people is not a sufficient condition. To Mr. Joaquim Levi I would say that it is time to put those responsible for the Buenos Aires bombings on trial. I Believe the latest accusation was against Iranians. But why not start by lobbying the Argentine government to put Hizballah on the terrorist list? See what they tell you.

Their whole existence is based on the elimination of Israel. Get a clue. Of course, with the Left it doesn't count as terrorism if Jews die.

Prime Minister Hariri is Head of the Governement, NOT Head of State.

How convenient that would be.

AIPAC +zionist Congressmen will never let Mr.Obama do any Peace Deal. Israel can not live without its dream of Greater israel.

Perhaps if they gave Lebanon billions you would cease to whine. But that can't be because it's the fact that they give any of your tax to anyone that bothers you. Isn't it??

The official versions don't provide what the translation you seem to have read. Try the original in English or French. Your version is erroneous. The original also doesn't provide for the overflights by the IAF.

Actually, if you, Mark, read 1701 you will see a recurring theme calling for the only armed forces to belong to the government of Lebanon. At the time of 1701 this was acceptable. Today, the Hezbolla armed forces comprise a distinctive element of the official armed forces of the government since Hezbolla itself is part of the government - since Lebanese elections of ~June 2009, Hezbolla has 10 of the 30 cabinet positions.

USA's terror proxy, Israel, poses a direct threat to the lebanese as well as other ME states. as defence secretary gates had stated recently, weapon systems are clearly offencive in nature violation of international mandates... and so on

Maybe if the Arabs would refrain from attacking and accepting Israel's existence we wouldn't have that problem. Of course, the Left wants the conflict so that it can continue to whine about Israel.

Sensible argument. To bring the Lebanese military up to scratch maybe half of what Israel gets annually from the Americans should be diverted to its northern neighbor. In no time I'll wager no more need for Hezbollah! May stir up the pot a bit but oh the richness of the irony.

Pathetic comment. Firstly, observe the $500 million the Lebanese government has received for defense expenditure so far. Secondly, the only thing encouraging Israel's invasion of Lebanon is Hezbolla - get rid of them and then you can have a peaceful Lebanon/Israel border.

Is obviously very short. Prior to the 2006 war, there was talk in Lebanon about disarming Hizbollah because there had been 25 years of mostly quiet along the border, except for some Hizbollah attacks, and then we have the war. Hizbollah won't accept being disarmed under any circumstances. It must be destroyed.

No! Syria and Hezbullah are terrorists, and if Syria and Lebanon became democratic in the true sense; they would have no problems more than any democratic and contiguous states with Israel.

That crying game, I believe was not taken as a sign of weakness among some of the arabs I have spoken to during my travels. But taken as a sign of a leader crying out for his nation. While Siniora is a weakling, he was strong enough to do whatever he could to try and save his people. Normally arab leaders are weaklings who cant even come close to do what is best for their people, Siniora made a laughing stock of himself to help his.

You are looking for a moral equivalency which cannot and will not exist. ISrael does not harbour and arm terror groups, Israel doe snot suicide bomb lebanon etc etc. get your head out of the sand Action reactuion cause and effect. Hizbullah arms itself, so will ISrael. Hizbullah starts another war, Israel will not stop until they will be all put in the ground.

The settlers who attack anyone they can get near, burn down olive groves, attack Palestinian kids on the way to school, throw faeces down on Palestinian houses. Israeli Airforce dropping one tone bombs in Gaza residential neighborhoods. These are not terrorist acts? Just the acts of normal Israelis? I know that this is not true. And, so do you. Israel is complicit in terrorist activities towards the Palestinians. Pity you cannot see that and work towards a fair peace.

Wherever you live, you are lucky your country isn't faced with the issues Israel has to deal with as a free, independent, democratic Jewish state behind safe and secure borders...in the ME. Neil, this is Middle East...the game played here is very different than in the US, Canada, EU, AU, etc...different values...sad to say. And if you don't play by the rules then you are fuc..d if you stay alive. The Separation Wall that Israel built IS WORKING! this is why you don't hear about the palestinian suicide bombers. And believe me the pal terror groups, Hammas and others, have the desire. Except they got blasted so hard during last was, the Cast Iron, that now they won't let even the rocks to be thrown over the border! The one tone bomb dropped in Gaza a few years back was intended to kill the head of Hammas' military wing and his top commanders, as for the rest of the people living in the building? Let me ask you a question? Would you have lived in the building that housed the head of Hammas's military wing, the arch-killer who escaped the assasins from Israel AND Fatah and other arab security services? Answer it, would you have lived next to him? So who do think lived next to him then? Neil, i think you sound like an intelligent guy who has no clue what is going in the ME and and the rules of the engagement here... Stay where you are, keep fantasizing about the life full of peace loving people and the world full of love, flowers and rainbows...

Israel doesn't harbour terrorist groups? What about the settlers? Are they not terrorists? And you're right. Israel doesn't use suicide bombs. They only use cluster bombs in villages, white phosphorus against civilians, bomb civilian infrastructure, etc. Israel is by no means a stranger when it comes to crimes against Humanity.

Please. The use of white phosphorus and cluster bombs on civilians is for self-defense purposes only. If the international community can understand this why can't you?

The settlers are not terrorists, they don't blow civilian buses, clubs, schools, etc. They don't blow themselves. Cluster bombs: Not illegal, the US and many other western nations uses them. White phosphorus: The same. It is used ot illuminate targets, not to burn civilians (though accidents may occur, of course). Bomb civilian infrastructure: Like the Beirut airport? To prevent more Iranian weapons and terrorists from arriving. All these criticisim, coming from an American... Are you serious?

Mark, Clear, consistent analysis, as usual. There is another explanation, however: politics of terror. Keep Hezbollah so politicians can keep talking about terror and gain a political advantage over the scared people of Isreal. If the Leanese army were strong, Hezbollah could not exist and there that army cannot be labeled as a terrorist organization. t

I would feel better were I in agreement. I am afraid that the politicians of Israel are not aware that they are the reason Hisbollah exists and that their actions ensure Hisbollah prospers. I must agree that Likud for example, uses it's bastard children Hamas and Hisbollah as means of justifying it's existence. I am not, however, convinced that the continued support and justification of Hamas and Hisbollah are in fact the result of intent by the Israeli right so much as the product of the insanity of the Israeli right.

A wonderfully worded reply Mark. You have expressed my sentiments better than I could.

Expelled us from Syria after we destroyed their infrastructure and kicked the butts of these terrorists. we pulled out and they launched 10,000 plus rockets at our north. if you remove that pointy white hat you like to wear you might and I stress might see the truth. NO worries Haaretz does not like Israelis or our view and will not print this.

Unfortunately the name calling will start now. Apparently Israel is allowed to have nuclear weapons whilst it's neighbours and any country Israel deigns an enemy must not have anything more powerful than a rubberband in case Israel wants to access their water supply. Or as is more usual in Israel, their politicians want to improve their poll ratings.

first of all hizbollah started as a social movement and local militia to protect lebanese shias from central lebanese government and Israeli agression. by mid 80's iranians realized that not only they can help fellow shias but also they can create a proxy against Israel and that was easy because all hizbollah needed was money and iranians had plenty of that so they started pumping millions of dollars into the movement and also sent hundreds of iranian revolutionary guards for training and organizing them not militarly but also iranians help them build schools , clinics and housing and once the infrastructure was in place they trained and armed the leadership and helped them to intergrate as a legitimate force into lebanese politics. so at this point for america to arm lebanese army is useless because it would be arming hizbollah. so the logical thing for america to do is to drop hizbollah from it's terrorist list and recognize it as part of lebanese society after all hizbollah has elected representatives in lebanese parliament and even lebanese president in his recent trip to syria said that if israel attacks hizbollah it's attacking lebanon and that lebanese will stand by hizbollah, and in conclusion we both know that US is shooting itself in the foot by ignoring hizbollah but again when it come to middle east it does not matter what US wants ,it's what israel wants that matters,

Your whole diatribe is just a long hodgepodge of lies: - "Israel still occupies parts of Lebanon " (how many parts? How many sqkm?). - " (Israel) threatens Lebanon with attack on almost daily basis" (really? dayly? The "threat" is not, maybe, a response to Nasrallah's rantings?) - "the Lebanese Army could not expel Israel from most of Southern Lebanon while Hisbollah could" (the UN did, of course, like always). - "That Israel savaged all of Lebanon ..." (If that was savaged, all of it, what was Grozny?)

Fortifying the army will not change the equation vis a vis Hezbollah and Iran.

This is EXACTLY how we see it here in lebanon... i'm just so glad western people are analysing the situation in the same way we do now!!! PROPS to mark lincoln

"first of all hizbollah started as a social movement and local militia to protect lebanese shias from central lebanese government and Israeli agression." - arash Would Hezbollah come into existence had Israel not invaded Lebanon and overrun those areas where the bulk of Lebanon's Shite population was living? I will stick to my opinion that Israel has contributed mightily to the rise of Hisbollah as a major player in Lebanese society. Both the USA and Israel will have to understand that after the Second Lebanon War Hisbollah will continue to be part of any Lebanese government and that there is nothing either the USA or Israel can do to change that fact.

Sorrowfully for Lebanon it has been the proverbial "monkey in the middle" way too long. The surrounding countries continue to play war games on Lebanese territory. When Ariel Sharon entered S. Lebanon it was due to the ongoing civil war crisis fomented by Yassar Arafat . A crisis threatening the security of Israel. The trouble with these kind of decisions is HOW TO LEAVE. Stupidly the IDF got stuck and made matters worse. A lesson learned. As a result Hezbollah was born and continues to thrive being aided by Syria and Iran. No problem there as the USA has always aided Israel. Tit for Tat is a universal phenomonon. But whereas the Irgun and Haganah were enmeshed into the IDF and political fabric of Israeli society , Hezbollah militarily refuses to become one with the Lebanese national army. As well according to military news out of Israel , Hezbollah is going to put of a defence wall parallel to the Lebanese / Syrian border which will also separate the S. Lebanese enclave from the rest of Lebanon. Strictly under Hezbollah control ..out of Lebanese political decision. Another move by Syria to control Lebanon under the watchful eye of Iran. Fun and games just beginning for the next decade of Lebanese the "monkey in the middle" hooror show.